Salvage the Bones
Ratings26
Average rating3.7
15
Ratings26
Average rating3.7
A hurricane is building over the Gulf of Mexico, threatening the coastal town of Bois Sauvage, Mississippi, and Esch's father is growing concerned. He's a hard drinker, largely absent, and it isn't often he worries about the family. Esch and her three brothers are stocking up on food, but there isn't much to save. Lately, Esch can't keep down what food she gets; at fifteen, she has just realized that she's pregnant. Her brother Skeetah is sneaking scraps for his prized pit bull's new litter, dying one by one. Meanwhile, brothers Randall and Junior try to stake their claim in a family long on child's play and short on parenting. As the twelve days that make up the novel's framework yield to a dramatic conclusion, this unforgettable family - motherless children sacrificing for one another as they can, protecting and nurturing where love is scarce - pulls itself up to face another day.
Series
2 primary books3 released booksBois Sauvage is a 3-book series with 2 primary works first released in 2011 with contributions by Jesmyn Ward and Jędrzej Polak.
Reviews with the most likes.
The plot is actually pretty slight–a motherless family with a variety of challenges (girl with boy problems, boy raising fighting pit bull with puppies, boy trying to win a scholarship to basketball camp, etc.) hunkers down in advance of the arrival of Hurricane Katrina, which then arrives. The hurricane scene is brilliant–I would have happily read more of that.
There are also echoes–made quite evident because the girl is reading mythology–of Medea's story. But it isn't really clear to me what the point of that might be. Is the girl planning to kill her child in revenge for the boy's betrayal?
Difficult reading, and I mean that along many dimensions. The story itself is painful, a train wreck from first to last page: feral children, poor decision-making skills, compounded by terrible luck, tied together by a fierce protective love... all they have is each other. There is suffering and cruelty, also compassion and tenderness, and it isn't always obvious which is which.
Difficult—and I dislike myself for saying this—stylistically too. The writing has a choppiness to it that didn't work for me, similar to the way Cormac McCarthy's writing grates on me. The fault is entirely mine but it saddens me: I had been hoping to enjoy this book much more, but am not the kind of person who can.
Difficult, finally, because the story is so real; because I feel so powerless against this kind of suffering.
